The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said it has a four-year plan to increase the number of electric motorcycles used in the nation by 37,000 by 2017, as part of the government’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
According to the ministry, about 14 million motorcycles are currently in use, which translates as 1.8 motorcycles per family.
The high density of motorcycles has become a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, explaining why only half of the days per year are considered good air quality days, the ministry said.
To improve air quality, the ministry said that the Executive Yuan has been implementing a plan since 2009 to encourage riders to replace their gasoline-powered motorcycles with electric models.
As of the end of last year, there were 31,337 electric motorcycles on the road, up from just 27 seen in 2009.
The ministry said that while increasingly more individual commuters are using motorcycles for daily transportation purposes, the eco-friendly vehicles have become part of a means of transportation for several industries, such as door-to-door delivery services providers, post offices and tourism on outlying islands.
The ministry cited as an example Penghu, a popular tourist destination, saying that the island added 3,430 new electric motorcycles from 2011 to 2013, which meant that one out of every two newly registered motorcycles in Penghu was an electric model.
The ministry said that 50cc and 80cc models are popular with elderly motorists or tourists on outlying islands like Penghu.
The ministry said it would encourage the motorcycle manufacturing industry to develop larger-sized 100cc and 125cc models to help electric motorcycle makers penetrate the mainstream market and boost the use of the energy-efficient vehicles, adding that the nation has ambitions to transform itself into a global hub for developing electric motorcycles and their related components.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS